


the dawn of my dark

by astral (katarasvevo)



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: I have officially lost my goddamn mind, M/M, a love story omg, ah yes the red blue space gays, bYYee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26650423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarasvevo/pseuds/astral
Summary: Red’s new objective is this: making sure Blue makes it out alive.No matter the cost.
Relationships: Blue/Red
Comments: 7
Kudos: 261
Collections: Among Us





	the dawn of my dark

The first time they meet, it’s before they board the shuttle for take-off. Red is wrapping gauze around his arm, wincing as he carefully covers up the mark that brands him a traitor, when there’s a cheerful voice that drifts down the preparation hall.

Across him, Orange’s face splits into an eerie grin. They both know what this means—easy prey. A lamb brought to slaughter.

“Good as dead,” Orange says, in that smug air she always has about her.

“I’ll do some re-con,” Red mutters, because if there’s one thing they don’t want to do, it’s underestimate the party as a whole. They’re here to win. Might as well take it seriously.

So he makes his way near the launch port. Puts on a serene mask, because here in this game of wits the lone wolf is going to stand out. The other Colours must also know this tune well; they’re all fraternizing with each other like they’re not balancing on the edge of a knife. Like the Skeld high above won’t be a death trap.

Red is so focused on discerning who’s who that he doesn’t immediately notice the figure hovering at the edge of his periphery. 

Until:

“You dropped this,” the voice he heard earlier says. 

Red turns his head, heart frozen. Their eyes meet, and oh. The ocean is the first thought that comes to mind. This Colour’s eyes are like that. Blue, as ocean, as evening, as song.

Blue.

Fingers wrap around Red’s wrist, and something is placed into his palm. His medallion. Red relaxes.

“Don’t go losing stuff next time. I might not be there to spot it,” Blue says cheerfully, with a grin, and before Red can respond, he’s already leaving, going. Gone.

Huh.

* * *

They’re heading towards the Skeld when Red reminds himself of the gravity of the situation. Ten Colours. One objective.

He and Orange can’t afford to make mistakes.

He sneaks a glance at Blue, who is talking to White, and repeats the mantra he and Orange have been given.

They can’t slip up.

* * *

The Skeld is more daunting than originally anticipated. Everyone—or most of them, at least—is constantly on high alert. There’s a rotating patrol of three around the security monitors. There always seems to be someone around every corner. The vents are way too noisy, and Black, it seems, is a sharp, intuitive one.

Consequently, Black is first on the list.

“I’ll handle them,” Orange says in a low murmur, when they’re both heading towards the oxygen room to “fix” the pumps they’ve sabotaged.

All Red can say is, “Be smart about it,” while recoiling underneath Black’s penetrating gaze.

* * *

Honestly, Red doesn’t know exactly how and why it happens. Blue, following him. Blue, trying to talk to him.

It happens sometime during Day Four, when Blue has been assigned to do the same tasks as him.

Maybe it was the medallion. Maybe it was the pseudo-impression that they had a connection because of that.

“We must be buddies now, right?” Blue says in that bright, carefree way that makes Red suspect that he’s either genuinely stupid or the world’s greatest pretender.

Red scoffs. “Can you really trust anyone here?” 

“Well, if I die, I might as well die happy.” Blue shrugs, laughing so casually, that it takes Red aback for a full second, a moment.

Idiot. Blue’s definitely an idiot. Maybe the first to go out should be him, and not Black. Orange would’ve done it immediately, taken the gun from her holster and let the shot go wide.

Red’s hand stays, though. It stays.

(Maybe Red is the bigger idiot.)

* * *

At first, Red wants nothing to do with Blue, because a) Blue is an idiot. B) Blue is annoying. And C) Blue is Blue, and that’s reason enough.

But it’s strange how feelings can be quick to change, quick as a wave clearing a shore.

Because Blue is annoying, until one day he isn’t.

They’re in storage, and Blue is gushing over a miniature android companion, face alight, eyes glowing, when it hits Red he doesn’t think he can do it anymore. Pull the trigger, and let Blue go.

(Can’t or won’t, a voice in his head whispers nastily.)

* * *

Days pass, and no progress on either Red or Orange’s part happens. Black remains among the living. So does Blue. And White. And Cyan. And everyone else.

Until Orange messes up. Big time.

Lime’s body is found in navigation by both Black and Pink, Orange caught completely red-handed, bloodstains and all. A meeting is called, and although Orange tries to argue that she isn’t the culprit, that she just found the body, Red knows it’s a lost cause.

“It wasn’t me,” Orange snarls, her anger so real-seeming Red could have believed her. “It was someone else! I heard them go through the vent!” Her hand clenches. “I swear.”

The words go flat. It’s not enough. So just like that Orange’s fate is decided. 

* * *

Before Orange goes into her doom, she tells them all one last time that it wasn’t her that killed Lime.

“I swear,” she says, and when she catches Red’s gaze, she gives an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

Red’s blood goes cold with understanding.

Sick to his stomach, Red watches in horror when the hatch disengages, and Orange is ejected into the cruel night.

* * *

The stars look beautiful from where they’re sitting in navigation.

They always are, though. No matter the location. But here in the cockpit, they’re an extra special view.

“I think I read somewhere everything’s like technically made of stardust,” Blue says idly, fiddling with his helmet as he reclines on his seat.

Red snorts. So Blue probably attended school. “Because of the hydrogen. And helium.” 

“You make it seem boring.” Blue makes a face. “But… it’s kinda crazy to think we came from that. Doesn’t it sound beautiful?” He smiles at Red softly, and Red’s centre of balance shifts. Disappears entirely.

The science behind human bodies is not nearly as beautiful as that, the stardust stuff. But looking at Blue—Blue, who is enchanted with the view, his eyes glowing like a just-forged sun—Red thinks: it kind of is.

* * *

He can protect Blue. It’s not a question.

What he does worry about is whether or not he can keep up this charade of innocence. And figure out who the third impostor is without arousing suspicion.

The thing is, though, the killer is smart. Not a trace left behind. The bodies start piling, until there is only five of them left.

Which leaves White, Black, and Purple. One of the three.

The game nears its end. Almost all of the necessary tasks are complete. Red’s new objective is this: making sure Blue makes it out alive. No matter what.

At first, it looks as though the spaceship will be fixed before it all goes downhill.

But then it does happen, and then they’re down to the bottom three. It all happens so fast, there’s no time to think or breathe.

Black’s body is cooling in the lower engine room. Purple bled out in admin hours ago, hands frozen around the knife jammed through her throat.

Red knows who White will be coming after next. 

“I won’t let them,” Red tells Blue, who has by now obviously figured out Red’s true nature. “I’ll keep you safe.”

Blue shakes his head. “The same goes for you, too. You can’t just be self-sacrificial on your own!”

“Promise me,” Red insists, because he _has_ to do this, if not anything else.

“No. Promises are for making others happy. And what about me? So I’ll make you an oath instead.”

With that, Blue extends his hand, and Red presses it to his monstrous heart.

* * *

The final showdown takes place in navigation. It’s a fitting end: the game of cat-and-mouse wrapping up with White slumped over the control panel, helmet completely shattered. Red is shaking all over, suit splattered with blood, hands shaking as the detonation sequence starts.

Red wonders how he must look in this very moment.

More monster than human. _Other._

He’s so focused on regulating his breathing that he doesn’t realize the pair of hands that is holding him by the shoulders. That is drawing him into a gentle hug.

“Thank you,” Red breathes out once the sensation registers, reciprocating the embrace.

“No. Shut up.” Blue lets out a shaky, watery exhale. _“I_ should be the one to thank you.”

They pull apart and turn to look at the stars. Ruination and rebirth.

“Let’s go,” Blue says, quickly wiping his face.

Their hands meet, alien and human both, and together they make their way to a new dawn, before light like a collapsing star can swallow the ship up.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> and this, kids, is why u shouldn't smoke crack, or u will have brain rot :'(


End file.
